Second Chances
by Shinedown-fan-chik
Summary: It was only a nine day trial, and he was deemed worthy. How will he use this time? HGSB M rating to be safe for future chapters
1. Second Chances

Disclaimer: I'm not even British, so I don't own it, 'kay?

A/N: _thoughts_ and "speaking". Just thought I'd clarify

Chapter 1 Second Chance

Hermione Granger, one third of The Golden Trio, has had a wonderful life since the downfall of Lord Voldemort. She got a job working as a Healer for St. Mungo's in the Maternity ward, she gets to see Harry and Ron all the time, and she is happily dating a fantastic man, the best alive, in fact.

_ Best alive, maybe, but the best ever? I think not._

"I've got things to do other than think stupidly about something that is never going to happen!" She berates herself. _He's coming back. You know it, you can feel it._ She rolls her eyes, but, in spite of herself, feels her heart beat just a bit faster. She knows that she's being ridiculous, that for all her wishing and hoping, nothing is going to change. Death is too final for it to change.

She slips into a silk tube-top dress of the deepest charcoal grey and turns to face herself in the mirror. "Not bad, Granger, not bad." She is quite pleased with the way she looks tonight and glad that she did break down and buy the dress. She slides into a pair of sexy black stilettos, grabs her clutch, and Apparates to the restaurant to meet everyone.

"Hermione! It's been too long!" She rolls her eyes at Ginny, who she saw just hours before at work. "Good to see you too, Gin. You look lovely." Ginny blushes and runs her hands over her emerald dress. "Thanks, 'Mione. I told you that grey would look amazing on you!" Hermione shakes her head at her long-time friend and co-worker. They walk over to the table and are greeted by a happy sight. Harry and his fiancé, Amy, are laughing at something Neville said, Luna and Ron are making eyes at each other, and Draco and his girl of the week, Melissa, are chatting nicely with Henry. As soon as he sees Hermione, however, Henry excuses himself and greets Hermione.

Dinner starts out calmly, but soon enough Ron and Harry are getting rowdy and Hermione is admonishing them for acting like children. As soon as the incident is over, however, they all laugh because it is such a routine for them. As dessert comes, Hermione invites everyone over to her house to have some drinks, and everyone agrees, more than happy to spend more time all together. They pay for the meal and then Apparate to the more-than-familiar house.

After far too much alcohol consumption and walking down memory lane, everybody leaves except Henry. He stays to help Hermione clean up, which neither of them ends up doing because they're both too smashed to do anything but sit in the armchairs until they fall asleep.

"Hermione…. Hermione, please. I need you…" She is woken up by a strangely familiar voice calling for her. "You're having a dream, Hermione. You know that voice can't be talking to you," She mutters angrily. "Hermione… My little bookworm, you aren't dreaming." Hermione's eyes fly open. "Sirius?!" She sees the man sprawled on her floor looking quite disheveled and not a day older than when she last saw him alive. She gasps and falls to her knees before crawling over to him. "Oh, Sirius!" She pulls him into her arms and he wraps his own around her waist. "I came back to you, my sweet little bookworm. I came back…." With that being said, Sirius blacks out in her arms.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Henry rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he pulls himself up. "Henry, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're going to have to go home. I have some very pressing business to be taken care of and I can't have you twittering about, so please leave." The shocked look on his face is enough to tell her that he is not taking this request very well at all. "Hermione, if I Apparate out of this house right now, I am not coming back. I will not leave you here with some strange man that I don't even know! It's absurd! Explain who he is and what you are going to do about him right now." The tone of his voice sounds a lot less brave than his posture would suggest. "Henry, I am a grown woman. I will not take orders from anyone. As to whom this is, he is a man more important to me than anyone else. Leave now. I have things to attend to." He splutters for words, but she has already turned her attention to Sirius. After he Apparates, she mutters, "Good riddance," and, much to her surprise, Sirius chuckles. "Wasn't good enough for you, 'Mione." She rolls her eyes at him. "Padfoot, according to you, nobody is ever good enough." She looks into his eyes. "You're right, but I think one day you'll find somebody that comes closer."

She immediately goes to work making him more comfortable by moving him onto her bed and giving him something to eat and drink. She then checks him for any physical damage and is pleased to find that, outside of being famished, Sirius is in perfect health.

"Sirius, I don't understand… they said that you wouldn't ever make it out of that veil and that it meant certain death. How did you get out and, more importantly, how did you end up at my place? You haven't ever been here before!" She doesn't like situations that she doesn't understand and she most certainly does not understand what is going on and how this man is in front of her now, after nine years.

"Hermione, I didn't die when I went behind that curtain. I went to my trial." Seeing her about to interrupt, he covers her mouth with his hand. "Don't butt in. I'll tell you everything, and then you can ask questions." When she succumbs, he removes his hand. "So, my trial. It lasted nine days behind the veil. Basically, they were trying to decide if I needed to be returned. They defined needing to be returned as having someone on the other side being capable of loving me completely and, without me, never finding true happiness. I suppose they thought that there was somebody out there for me because here I am. I have no idea who they were or how they decided this, but here I am. I am alive and plan on staying so for quite some time now. I've got to find this woman that loves me so." She laughs and shakes her head. "I'm glad you're back, Sirius. Is there anything else I can get you?" She yawns in the middle of her sentence. "Yes, please get some sleep. Come on, I don't take up the whole bed." He pulls her into the bed and wraps his arms around her waist, making sure she doesn't try to leave. "Sleep, love. We'll do everything that needs doing in the morning." With that whispered in her ear, she drifts off to sleep, thinking of warm fur next to her.


	2. Truths Revealed

A/N: Disclaimer still applies. I hope this one is slightly better and less boring than the last. Thanks to anyone who's reading!

Chapter 2- Truths Revealed

Hermione is awoken the next morning with an arm over her stomach and a stubbly cheek next to her own. At first, in her sleep-induced haze, she doesn't quite remember what is going on. After a few seconds, however, her brain starts to put a few things together. "Sirius," she whispers in an awe-filled voice. "Love, I'm really here." She turns over on her side to face Sirius. "I still can't believe it. I've hope and wished for it for so long and everyone told me it was pointless but I still kept hope." As she speaks, she becomes increasingly distressed and is crying by the end. "Sweetheart, I'm here now, there's nothing to worry about." As he says this, he tightens his arm around her and pulls her close, comforting her. "I know," she repeats over and over again.

After a few minutes, she pulls away and wipes her tears. "I'm sorry. I'm being ridiculous. I'm sure comforting a crying woman is not your idea of a great day. Come, why don't I make us some breakfast?" She tries to slide out of the bed, but a pair of strong arms stops her. "Hermione, laying in bed, being able to talk to and comfort you _is_ my idea of a great day. Breakfast sounds wonderful, though I think I'll take care of that." He reaches over her and grabs her wand. A minute later, a tray full of delicious looking food appears in front of them.

"You are so amazing. You know, you should teach at Hogwarts. You would be excellent at teaching Charms of Transfiguration, you know that?" He laughs at this " I don't think so, 'Mione. I couldn't do that. I'd be too bad of an influence on the students." She shakes her head. "You wouldn't be a bad influence. They would love you, and as long as you actually taught them something, you would be priceless." He looks as if he's thinking about it and then shrugs.

They eat their breakfast and talk, mostly about meaningless stuff until Sirius asks a question about the previous night. "Hermione, who is Henry?" She can't help but blanch at the question. "He was my fiancé of two months." She says this quietly, almost ashamedly. "Then why did you send him away?" Sirius sounds genuinely concerned. "I sent him away because you are much more important. Plus, if he can't just take my word and trust me, it would have been a terrible marriage." The tone of her voice in unsure, almost as if she is trying to convince herself. "Hermione, you shouldn't have given him up for me. I could have waited, honestly." She giggles slightly at this show of chivalry. "You didn't look like you could wait. Plus, even if Henry and I were perfect together, you will always be more important than anyone else that may come in and out of my life." A tear rolls down her cheek. "You're so important, and I almost lost you." Sirius gently wipes the tears away. "I came back, though. I will always come back to you, Hermione." His voice is husky with emotion. "Always." She looks into his eyes and within the smoky depths she sees more emotion in them than she has seen in the eyes of anyone else. She sees longing, confusion, doubt, and something unidentifiable.

"Sirius, what do you want from your life?" She realizes that he can do whatever he wants without running for the Ministry of fighting Voldemort. "I want to get married, have children, and be happy." This answer surprises her. "Don't look so shocked. I've though about it and I've decided that I need a nice, sensible witch to settle down with. I have always loved children since Harry was born and I've wanted children of my own. It's just a matter of convincing a certain witch to live with me." This startles a laugh from her. "Sirius, I don't think more woman will need to be convinced to marry you. Women will fall at your feet once they know you're back." He shakes his head in disbelief. "Not this one. She's smart. She knows that I'm just an old dog." He sounds like he really believes this. "Well, she must not be very intelligent, because if she knew you at all, she would see that you are a wonderful man; brace, smart, and noble. If she has your love, she is a lucky woman." Hermione says this with such conviction that Sirius is taken aback slightly.

"Oh, really? That's interesting!" He looks at her curiously. "It's true. I think very highly of you, Sirius. I hope you know that." She turns away slightly. " I know now. I can only hope that you know that I hold you in very high regard, too." Her eyes go wide at this. "Honestly, I have never met a more intelligent of caring woman in my life. You are an incredible witch and en even greater woman. You are going to make some man very happy. I would consider myself very lucky if I could find a wife half as sweet, half as smart, or half as beautiful as you." A lone tear strays down her cheek and Sirius is looking pretty choked up with emotion.

"Sirius, I have a confession to make. When you left, I felt like I was going to die. I couldn't let you go and I didn't want to. I spent every day you were gone wishing you would come back. I felt like I would never be as happy as I could be if you were here." She is now crying fully.

"I have a confession also. The whole reason I was allowed to come back is because I was in love, truly and completely, and they believed that I would have a chance to reciprocate that love." She looks very down trodden and disappointed. "Hermione, that love was given to you." Her face lights up immediately. "I have been in love with you for quite some time. I knew it was wrong, that you were too young, at least physically, but I couldn't help myself. You are the brightest witch of your age, and you captured my heart when you showed your loyalty to Harry and protected him against everything. I saw that in you and couldn't help myself. It also didn't hurt that you grew more beautiful wit every passing day." She giggles through her tears of happiness. "I hope that I'm not being too straight forward, but being dead for seven years has made me realize that I have to say what I want because there isn't enough time to wait for things to come to me." He reaches out tentatively to touch her cheek with the lightest contact of his fingertips.

"It is straight forward, but I can appreciate that. I think I have been in love with you for a long time, even before you left, but I was too afraid to say anything. I'm sick of being afraid, though. I want to be with you, Sirius, no matter what." They both grin from ear to ear. "There will be people that disapprove, though." Concern is evident in her voice. "Then we won't let anyone else know until we think the time is right. We can just be together." Sirius comes up with this solution quite easily. "Keep our relationship a secret from everyone?" He nods. "I suppose it is the least complicated way. That way, we know what to expect from each other before we tackle them. It sounds like an idea to me." He leans forward and kisses her lightly. "I could definitely get used to that," she whispers after they kiss. "Me too."

After quite some time of laying in bed, touching, holding, and kissing each other, they decide to get ready for the day. It's left undecided what they will do with the rest of the day, but getting dressed seems like a good start. After they dress, it's around lunchtime, so Hermione starts making a meal, the Muggle way, which amuses Sirius to no end. "You are the most talented witch to come about in over fifty years, and yet you refuse to use your magic for the most mundane things like cooking and cleaning. It makes no sense!" She sighs, exasperatedly. "It's because they're mundane things that I like to do them by hand. Of course I can transfigure us a nice meal in seconds, but I am a Muggle born and I don't ever want to become handicapped by my magic. I need to remember that there are people out there that don't have the convenience of just waving a wand and making things happen. It keeps me grounded to do things the good old fashioned way." He sees that he isn't going to get anywhere with her on this particular argument, so he gives up.


End file.
